About Bob Ellis - Callsign G8YQL

Bob Ellis has a great future behind him, devoting a life to radio in support of it, talking through it and admiring others who made up radio's greatest days.

On The Radio

Founder Member of Radio Link, a hospital radio network where he engineered, produced and presented music programmes and got a taste for news and copy writing. Produced idents and jingles which he learns to his horror are still used across the national network.

Broadcast Assistant at BBC Derby working on major charity events, The Money Mountain and Children In Need in production and presentation.

Voice-over for many local radio adverts and promotional videos. A great face for radio.

Through The Radio

He writes with more style than knowledge after twelve years at Lowe Electronics. Hams aware of their licence restrictions always called it The Matlock Emporium as if every other dealer was based there. It was here that pioneering work in HF systems was done but not by him. By then he already had 25 years or more as a listener and could use his servicing experience to advise The Great JT on the HF Series receivers and what our customers were likely to do with them.

From this came The Book Of Herberts, an internal publication where the workshop team could log their angst as our radios were abused.

12-volt sets plugged directly into the wall socket, reverse polarised, transmitted into, modified out of recognition, poor long-wave reception using the TV aerial. That sort of thing...

So The Listener's Guide was born, running to three print editions. But as the management style changed in the 90s, Bob Ellis and his Guide had to go.

Lowe Production was set in up Cromford and there was attempts to revive the Guide but to no avail. Enter our hosts W3Z who keep the spirit of The Guide alive.

Going Back

Radio was a big part of the job at ROSCOM. Something called a Customer Support Engineer who tried to explain to mobile phone companies why a signal at 945MHz did not go around corners and with all the extra services a mobile now supplies, still doesn't.

As the money moved to 1800MHz with no improvement in cornering, he found there was two camps. Those who sell phones and those who know how they work.

Before that, he worked at COMET fixing audio-visual kit trying to get the porn tape out of the Betamax before the wife came home...

It gets a blur if we go back any further, but he does remember being an apprentice at PEKTRON, building prototypes and watching for blue smoke.

And Now?

Bob Ellis has retired from the NHS. The only way to leave with any dignity in a culture where the bully is king.

Education

Derby School coming out with scrape-pass O Levels in English, Maths, Chemistry and Physics as if anyone knows what an O Level is these days.

Then Derby University, coming out with an HNC in Electrical & Electronics Engineering and a Credit Pass in Theory and Practice, Radio Amateurs Certificate C&G 7650.

Leisure Interests Past And Present

Writing articles if anyone asks and enjoys walking in Derbyshire on a pub-to-pub basis. A hard life but a happy one.